Guardians and Gargoyles: Jack Grisham and T.S.O.L.

"Dance with me my dear..."

Jack Grisham in the 1983 film Suburbia.

True Sounds of Liberty covered deathrock, anti-establishment  political punk and keyboard-heavy theater-rock in the span of four album releases. The strength of these albums lay heavily on the lead vocalist Jack Grisham (aliases would vary by release). Without his slick vocal stylings, the band may have fallen through the cracks and become just another footnote on the history of hardcore punk.

I remember being stricken by the uncompromising weight of the lyrics, combined with the poetic crooning style, all against the backdrop of thrashing guitar and speed-freak drums. "Army, Navy, Air Force... or jail!" Lyrically, this band was every bit as challenging and compelling as the Dead Kennedys, but their preferred sound was in a remarkably darker vein.

Their darkest hour.

Grisham and company offered something that was missing in the southern CA punk scene of the time; theatricality and even maturity (the maturity argument only holds up of course, if one excludes "Code Blue", a song about fucking corpses in mortuaries). Listening to the band's earliest works even now, Grisham sounds like he is performing a scene from a play, rather than screaming miserable cliches into a microphone. Songs with stories, characters give their albums a deeper, more thoughtful tone than those of their contemporaries. Despite the unrefined quality of the music, T.S.O.L. seemed like a group that could last a long time, instead of reflecting the flash-in-the-pan nature of most other punk bands. T.S.O.L. was never as unprofessional and desperate as the Germs, et. al. (although were known to have raucous crowds at their shows). Nor were they as narrowly themed as the Circle Jerks and Black Flag, and their songs were better than other horror-themed bands, such as 45 Grave. The finishing touch was a frontman who could actually sing, and wasn't just onstage to thrash around and attract as much attention as possible.  Grisham's melodramatic vocals were clearly reminiscent of Dave Vanian of the Damned, almost certainly purposefully so. Songs and albums that sounded different from one another and weren't just endless rehashings of the same idea... what a novel idea!

Why are so many other, less qualified bands are considered "legendary", while Jack Grisham and T.S.O.L. are swept under the rug, critically ignored in the development of punk and dark edged rock music?

Nick Feratu and Lin Zee

The Do-Somethings - The Do-Somethings

The music scene is always in a state of flux, most especially in the barren artistic wasteland of Phoenix. Stray upstart bands pop up outta nowhere and immediately begin the usual squabble for attention and start adjusting themselves to the ever-changing sound and vision of whatever happens to be popular at the time. With that in mind, it's refreshing to see a young group that is obviously not attempting to follow a particular scene or style, but is simply making the music they want to make. The Do-Somethings are Andrew Goard (guitar and vocals), Erin Garcia (upright bass and vocals), and Vai Peterson (drums and illegal substances) and they don't need people around them, stifling them. So if you don't like it, there's the door!

The instrumental opener "Intro" hangs out in safe territory combining Danzig riffs with Psychobilly guitar. This would have done well had it been expanded into a full song rather than keeping it short and predictable. "Hawthorne's Dream" gets a little more elemental with Erin's cool feminine croon and Andrew's low-register vocals blending well. The upright bass keeps the ship afloat amongst the torrents of guitar distortion. "Too Drunk" merges seamlessly, becoming the sonic sequel of the previous track. Lyrically, this song could have used a bit of buffing, but it's swing is suitable for the content. The true saving grace is the light touch of guitar and the backing vocals rounding things out. It turns all your bad feelings into good feelings! It's a nightmare!

"Goodnight Darlin" is clunky blues-a-billy with the main focus being abrupt tempo / chord changes. "The Reverend" kicks out the jams for a brief rock instrumental, only to lead us right back where we'd came from. Right when we were just beginning to shake! "The Strangest Place" is yet another slowish ballad with out-of-nowhere tempo changes, this time with improved clarity and a nimble guitar introduction. Andrew's mom should be proud her son learned to play guitar so well... even without a sense of smell! "Who Are You?" is along similar lines with a boozy campfire guitar strum pattern and walking bass, until the ass falls out of the tune and everything gets weird! For a brief moment, guitars become wildly over-driven and things threaten to fall apart at the seams.

It's tempting to draw comparisons to dark-tinged country acts such as Slim Cessna's Auto Club, The Coffinshakers and 16 Horsepower, with the leanings toward a gloomy, galloping sound almost as if Marty Robbins went off on a suicidal bender. With a bit more polish and finesse, this band is certain to make their mark on our wilting music scene. It's a long hard walk, and there's no doubt these guys can walk... HARD.

http://www.myspace.com/thedosomethings

- Nick Feratu